Fashion Week's First — And Largest — Runway
By
AMANDA GORDON | September 3, 2008
The
Brooklyn Bridge is a New York treasure, to be sure, but last night it became apparent that it may also be the world's most perfect runway.
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Models posing last night at the midpoint of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Fashion Indie Week
Brooklyn launched with a fashion show that used the Brooklyn Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path as its runway. At a quarter to 7 in the evening, just as a dusty pink hue had sunk into the city skyline, some two dozen models marched onto the path, starting on the Brooklyn side and walking to the center white line that divides traffic.
And it all happened while the daily parade of commuters, runners, and tourists carried on as usual; indeed, few of them took notice of the poofy sleeves, neon pink jackets, and big hair strutting past them.
That was a shame, because many of them missed a magical New York experience.
There were a few dozen people, however, smarter than those passersby, who strolled on to the Brooklyn Bridge just to secure a "front row seat," in this instance, a perch along the pathway. On the Manhattan side, the spectators were greeted with a warm welcome from Becky Amirzadh and Yael Friedman, interns at Fashion Indie Week Brooklyn and students at Shulamith High School in Brooklyn. They were friendlier than the black-clad, cold, and efficient greeters-gatekeepers who on Friday will take their posts at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Bryant Park.
They let anyone who wanted to go into this show, including a group of merchandising majors at Kent State University who arrived in New York last week for the semester.
"This is our first fashion show," one of the students, Jennifer Myers, said.
An aspiring stylist, Angela Lynn, waited for the show to begin by walking up and down the path herself — certainly a better way to spend time than sitting in a windowless and crowded tent. She admired the views as she imagined what the show would be like.
"I don't like these slats in the wooden planks here," Ms. Lynn said, pointing to the surface of the path. "My heels are getting stuck. I wonder how these models are going to manage."
The models managed fine. One model, Lisa Goodwin, even broke into a sprint on the path, to catch up with the others. It wasn't her first fashion show, but it was the first time she'd run or walked on the bridge, she said.
agordon@nysun.com
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